Chapter 5 - The Sister Who Vanished
“Her name was Lucia.”
Elena sat across from Adrian after Sophia had gone upstairs.
She had not spoken her sister’s name in years.
“Lucia Castillo was seven years older than me. Brilliant. Stubborn. She could look at a column of numbers and find the mistake before anyone else finished reading it.”
Adrian stared at the photograph.
“An accountant.”
“Yes.”
“My wife was an accountant.”
“I know.”
“You never told me.”
“I didn’t know they knew each other.”
Elena’s fingers tightened around her coffee.
“Lucia disappeared eleven years ago.”
Adrian’s gaze sharpened.
“Disappeared?”
“She called me one night. She sounded frightened. She told me she had made a mistake and needed to leave Boston.”
“What mistake?”
“She wouldn’t say.”
The next morning Lucia’s apartment was empty.
No clothes.
No laptop.
No passport.
Police eventually treated the case as a voluntary disappearance.
Elena never believed it.
“I spent years looking.”
“Why stop?”
“I didn’t.”
Her voice hardened.
“I ran out of money.”
Adrian looked at the photograph again.
Dante entered with a folder.
“I found her.”
Elena stood so quickly her chair scraped backward.
“What?”
“Not alive.”
The room went silent.
Dante’s expression softened slightly.
“Lucia Castillo died in Montreal nine years ago under the name Lucy Carr.”
Elena’s knees weakened.
Adrian caught her elbow.
She pulled away instinctively.
Then stopped.
For one second she allowed his hand to remain there.
“How?”
“Car accident.”
Elena laughed once.
It sounded broken.
“Of course.”
Adrian understood.
Another accident.
Another woman connected to the Morettis.
Another convenient death.
Dante continued.
“Lucia worked for a private accounting firm. One client was a Moretti shell company.”
Elena closed her eyes.
The world had just folded in half.
She had spent eight months cleaning the house of the family possibly connected to her sister’s death.
“Did you know her?” she asked Adrian.
“No.”
“Would you tell me if you did?”
“Yes.”
She searched his face.
For reasons she could not explain, she believed him.
Dante placed another document down.
“Lucia rented a safe-deposit box in Boston before disappearing.”
Adrian produced Isabella’s brass key.
The number matched.
The bank opened at nine.
By ten, Adrian, Elena, Dante, and two attorneys were inside a private viewing room.
The box contained no money.
No jewelry.
Only a flash drive and a handwritten letter.
The letter was addressed to Elena.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
Elena,
If you’re reading this, then I failed to come home.
I’m sorry.
I found records proving Vincent Moretti has been stealing money and paying people to cover something much worse. Isabella found the same records. She wants to tell Adrian, but she’s afraid he will choose his family over the truth.
If something happens to either of us, the Harbor Ledger is the proof.
Don’t trust anyone who says Adrian ordered it.
He didn’t.
Elena stopped reading.
Adrian stared at the table.
She continued.
There’s one more thing.
Vincent knows you exist.
If he ever learns you have the key, run.
Elena lowered the letter.
Dante inserted the flash drive into an isolated laptop.
Encrypted files appeared.
Lucia had included a password hint.
Elena smiled through tears.
“Bluebird.”
“What?”
“Our mother called us her bluebirds.”
The files opened.
Transactions.
Names.
Photographs.
Audio recordings.
And one video.
Isabella appeared on-screen.
Adrian stopped breathing.
His dead wife looked directly into the camera.
“If Adrian is watching this, then I didn’t get the chance to tell him myself.”
Adrian gripped the edge of the table.
“I’m sorry,” Isabella continued. “I should have trusted you sooner.”
She explained that Vincent had used Moretti businesses to move money for a criminal network Adrian had expressly forbidden from operating through his organization.
When Isabella discovered it, Vincent threatened her.
Lucia helped her copy the evidence.
Then Isabella said something none of them expected.
“Vincent isn’t working alone.”
The video distorted.
Her next words were damaged.
Dante adjusted the audio.
A name emerged.
“Reynolds.”
Everyone looked at one another.
Elena whispered, “The doctor?”
Adrian stood.
“Call the house.”
Dante already had his phone out.
Nobody answered.
Again.
Nothing.
Finally Mrs. Bellini picked up.
She sounded panicked.
“Mr. Moretti?”
“What happened?”
“Dr. Reynolds came.”
Adrian’s face changed.
“Why?”
“He said Sophia needed to be examined after the smoke exposure.”
Elena stood.
“Where is she?”
Mrs. Bellini began crying.
“Titan attacked him.”
Elena’s heart stopped.
“What?”
“He didn’t bite him. He wouldn’t let him near Sophia.”
Adrian grabbed his coat.
Then Mrs. Bellini said the words that froze everyone.
“Dr. Reynolds left ten minutes ago.”
Adrian stared at Dante.
“Where’s Sophia?”
A pause.
Mrs. Bellini answered.
May you like
“She’s gone.”
Elena dropped the letter.
